


gorgeous beards of BHU

by bibliosexual



Series: Tumblr fic [15]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: (a little bit), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Beards, Instagram, M/M, Model Derek, Social Media AU, meet online and then in real life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 11:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10512897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliosexual/pseuds/bibliosexual
Summary: There are a lot of reasons Stiles is pretty sure Erica is his platonic soulmate. Her brilliant innuendos. Her epic dance moves. Her stubborn refusal to back down from things that scare her. The fact that her comic book collection is even bigger than Stiles’. And, of course, her @gorgeousbeards_of_bhu instagram account.Or,In which Erica posts a picture of a gorgeous mystery man to her Instagram and Stileshasto know who it is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A Sterek ficlet inspired by all those accounts like “Humans of New York” and “Dogs of Instagram.” Also partially by [this](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/46/13/09/46130967f096f2263458523795adcfc9.jpg) pic of Tyler Hoechlin.
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://bibliosexxual.tumblr.com/post/157718352911/gorgeous-beards-of-bhu) on my tumblr!

There are a lot of reasons Stiles is pretty sure Erica is his platonic soulmate. Her brilliant innuendos. Her epic dance moves. Her stubborn refusal to back down from things that scare her. The fact that her comic book collection is even bigger than Stiles’. And, of course, her @gorgeousbeards_of_bhu instagram account.

Beacon Hills University has about two thousand students, making it just big enough that Stiles doesn’t know everyone, or even know _of_ everyone. It’s also, for some reason, the kind of school that attracts a lot of hipster and mountain man types, maybe because it’s California. That makes it a rich hunting ground for Erica and her camera. She manages to post a new “gorgeous beard” every other day or so.

They’re always fun pictures with a little snippet of an interview quoted underneath, and it’s weirdly addictive to scroll through it in the mornings while Stiles is waiting in line for coffee. By this point, after almost a whole semester of following her account, Stiles has seen guys with banjos and beards down to their knees, guys with flowers woven into their beards, guys with Tarzan-esque flowing locks, even some nonbinary bearded people. Then, of course, there are the many hipsters and guys in plaid shirts who look more like lumberjacks than college students.

Stiles asks Erica one time if she’ll feature him on her instagram if he grows a beard. That’s how he finds out she has _standards_.

“I remember your facial hair from senior year of high school, and no I will not,” she says, shuddering. “Take it from me, you look much better as a boy band twink than a sketchy long-haul trucker.”

She’s a true friend.

*

Then there’s the day she posts a picture of The Guy. His face is spattered with what looks suspiciously like blood, and there are a bunch of jagged rips in his shirt, like he got into a fight with something with claws.

Even like that, he’s still one of the hottest people Stiles has ever seen. He’s staring challengingly into the camera with gorgeous green-grey eyes and glorious eyebrows of sarcasm. His facial hair looks like it’s been groomed by the gods. His arm muscles have Stiles thinking about all the creative and athletic sex they could probably have without this guy even breaking a sweat.

The caption reads, “I swear I didn’t just come from murdering someone. I was a werewolf in my friend Kira’s horror photo shoot.”

Stiles spits out his coffee, shocked into laughter, and that’s it. He’s intrigued. More than intrigued. Infatuated. Obsessed enough to comb through the entire Gorgeous Beards of BHU archives to see if there are any more pictures of this guy. Sometimes Erica will interview the same person twice if it’s been a while.

Not this time, though, apparently.

So he sneaks into Erica’s Queering the Renaissance class. (He has copies of all his friends’ schedules in his phone for just this kind of emergency situation. He also has copies of all their room keys, but that’s another story.)

She’s sitting in the back row, conveniently right by the door. He slips into the empty desk beside her and winks when she does a double-take at the sight of him.

“What the— You’re not in this class.”

“Nope,” Stiles agrees in a whisper. He pulls out his phone. “I have an important question.”

“More important than whether Shakespeare was bisexual?”

“What?” Stiles glances around, remembers where they are. “Oh. No, as interesting as that sounds, this is definitely more pressing.” He slides his phone onto her desk. “Who is this guy? I hope _he’s_ bisexual, because I’m about to ask him out.”

Erica snorts. “Wish I could help you there, but unfortunately I don’t know.”

“Nooo, what do you mean you don’t know? You took his photo! Don’t you always talk to them first and ask permission and stuff?”

“Yeah, of course, but… he wasn’t that chatty. He was very suspicious and loom-y, and he only agreed to a photo after I explained about my project. Also, he was in a hurry to get home and change into less murder-y clothes.”

“Understandable.”

Erica nods. “Yeah. So, we didn’t exactly get around to introductions.”

“Fuck,” Stiles says, with feeling.

“Hey,” Erica sighs, “don’t look at me like that. I swear your sad puppy eyes are almost as bad as Scott’s. Listen, I’ll let you make a post on my instagram. You can ask if anyone knows who he is. Just… don’t abuse this, okay? No posting weird memes or anything.”

Stiles presses an offended hand to his chest. “Who, me? Would I stoop to such levels?”

Erica just rolls her eyes affectionately and scribbles down her instagram password.

*

“Hey Derek,” Isaac says, sidling up to Derek’s table at the library. He has this gleam in his eyes like he’s about to make fun of Derek for something.

Derek immediately tenses up.

Isaac slowly, dramatically pulls his phone out of his pocket. “So I was on instagram today.”

Oh no. “You saw my picture on that account about the ‘gorgeous beards,’” Derek guesses. He can feel himself blushing.

Isaac’s smirk grows wider. “Yeah, and that was great, but…  Have you been on there since?”

“She only took one picture of me,” Derek says, confused.

“No, I mean, have you checked the account since then?”

“I’ve never seen it. I didn’t even look at it when she posted my picture.” Why would he? He already knows what he looks like.

“Oh man. Then I get to be the one to tell you.” Isaac pokes at his phone for a second and then gleefully slaps it down on the table. “You have an admirer.”

For a second Derek is confused. Isaac has pulled up the Gorgeous Beards of BHU instagram, but the photo he’s selected is a selfie of a guy _without_ a beard. He doesn’t even look capable of growing one. He looks like he should be in high school, or maybe singing alongside One Direction.

“Okay? Am I supposed to know who this is?”

“Read the caption.”

That’s when Derek understands why Isaac is biting back laughter.

“HI THERE,” it reads. “So I don’t have a gorgeous beard but I do have a need. A burning need. To ask out the hot guy covered in blood from this morning’s post. Dude, if you’re reading this and you wanna give me a shot, don’t leave me hanging. Just name the time and the place and I’m there. –Stiles ;)” Under it is a link to what is presumably the guy’s instagram account.

“Everyone on campus is talking about it,” Isaac says over Derek’s shoulder. “A lot of people seem to think it’s romantic.”

“It’s bizarre,” Derek retorts. “He doesn’t even know me, and I’ve definitely never seen him before.”

Isaac leans his elbows on the table. “Derek, people ask out people they don’t know all the time. It’s how you _get_ to know someone. So,” Isaac prods Derek’s shoulder, “are you going to say yes?”

Derek scoffs. “Obviously not. I don’t date, you know that.” At least not since the disaster that was Kate, and then the disaster that was Jennifer. He’s had enough of all his girlfriends turning out to be homicidal. “And even if I did, I definitely wouldn’t pick some stranger off the internet.”

Only, he’s kind of tempted.

Or… curious, at least.

Curious enough that when he’s alone in his apartment later that night, he’s still thinking about it. He glances around surreptitiously, just in case Isaac has come in while he wasn’t looking, and then he pulls up Gorgeous Beards of BHU on his laptop.

It’s a surprisingly popular account; at least three quarters of everyone at this school must be following it. The photo of Stiles is still at the top of the feed, right next to the one of Derek, which has already gotten over five hundred likes and almost a hundred comments. That seems like a bafflingly high number, considering that Derek only has like three friends at this school. Who _are_ all these people?

Derek hesitates, then clicks on Stiles’ photo (which has close to seven _hundred_ likes, what the fuck) and finds the linked username, @fyeahstilinski.

He loses track of time a little after that, just scrolling through months of this guy’s life. There’s just something about him. He looks like he has a lot of fun with life, always out and about and doing stuff… unlike Derek, who practically has to be bribed to leave his apartment. Stiles obviously has a lot of friends, and he smiles a lot, big genuine grins that _do things_ to Derek’s insides, and he’s so witty and sarcastic whenever he captions a photo or talks to people in the comments. He seems like a rare mix of goofball friend and cunning prankster asshole, and… Yeah. Derek is kind of into it.

Derek doesn’t like most people, but he thinks he would like Stiles.

He navigates back to Gorgeous Beards of BHU. Stiles’ photo is up to eight hundred likes now. The comments section is overflowing with heart-eyes emojis and people urging him to give Stiles a chance. No one seems to know who Derek actually is. They keep referring to him as “Gorgeous Beard Guy.” It’s not exactly how Derek wanted to be known around campus, but he supposes there are worse reputations to have.

He hesitates, mouse hovering over the “Sign up” button. If he did want to reply to Stiles’ message, he would need to make an instagram account.

Stiles’ photo stares back at him, daring him to make a move.

He clicks the link.

*

Stiles has just stuffed a huge forkful of Chinese takeout into his mouth when Erica shoves her phone in his face and says, “Gorgeous Beard Guy’s name is Derek!”

Stiles promptly chokes on his noodles and nearly falls off Erica’s kitchen counter in his haste to grab the phone from her and see for himself. Meanwhile, Scott, who’s sitting on Stiles’ other side, jostles his shoulder, trying to see it, too.

It’s a new photo of Gorgeous Beard Guy, uploaded by user @derekhale. It’s obviously a selfie, taken in what looks like one of the student apartments. Derek is thankfully free of fake blood and torn clothing this time. He’s dressed instead in a soft-looking green henley that brings out the paler green in his eyes and gives Stiles the strong urge to reach through the screen and snuggle him. There’s something endearing, too, about the way he’s smiling at the camera, all awkward and dorky and self-conscious like he’s not used to taking selfies, and Stiles finds himself grinning.

Derek has captioned it, “To @fyeahstilinski: I’ll be outside the library at 7 PM tonight. Meet you there?”

“Hell yeah, he said yes!” Stiles shouts, accidentally knocking over his takeout with his fist-pump. “Wait. What time is it now?”

Scott glances at his watch. “Uh, bro, I don’t think you’re going to make it.”

“It’s 6:54,” Erica says. “He posted this like five hours ago.”

“Fuck,” Stiles breathes, scrambling to his feet. “I can’t get all the way to the other side of campus in six minutes.”

Shit. Derek is going to be waiting for him on the steps of the library, all heartbreakingly hopeful and first-date nervous, and 7 o’clock is going to come and go and Stiles isn’t going to be there, and Derek is going to think… what? That Stiles changed his mind? That Stiles isn’t that interested after all? Maybe even that this was all some kind of prank, nothing more than a mean joke? Stiles can’t do that to him.

“Take my bike,” Scott offers. “Then you won’t be _that_ late. I bet he’ll wait for you.”

So Stiles takes the bike and rides like the wind.

Well, okay, _attempts_ to ride like the wind, but in reality is kind of wobbly; he’s never been that good at things requiring any sense of balance, poise, or grace. Still, he gets there, and that’s the important thing.

He drops the bike on the ground and looks around.

It’s 7:13, and dark out, and the plaza in front of the library is totally empty.

Stiles’ shoulders slump. He’s too late. Of course Gorgeous Beard Guy didn’t wait. Stiles was lucky he got this chance at all, and now he’s blown it.

Then he sees it. A faint movement to his left, in the shadows by the bike rack. Stiles turns, and it’s him. Derek. Looking shy but determined, and so handsome it makes Stiles lose his breath a little.

Stiles smiles and takes a tentative step toward him. “Uh, wow. Hi.”

Derek smiles back, and a little of the tension goes out of his shoulders. “Hi.”

*

The next day, Gorgeous Beards of BHU posts a new photo. In it, Stiles and Derek are standing together on the steps of the library, holding hands. Stiles is giving the camera an enthusiastic thumbs up. Derek has his head turned, gazing at Stiles with quiet, awed affection.

It’s captioned, “This is our second date. We met here last night. So far it’s going well. Also, if you were wondering, Derek’s beard is just as gorgeous in person.”

Within hours it’s the most popular photo Gorgeous Beards of BHU has ever posted.

Years later, it will be the photo Stiles and Derek use on their wedding invitations.


End file.
